My son comes by my nerdiness pretty honestly but the one thing that drives me crazy is that he does not care about sports or exercise at all.
When I was a kid I loved sports and as I got older working out at the gym. Of course there are a lot of different distrations now and I know that it is up to me to point him in the right direction and push that passion to work out in whatever way he would want.
For this reason I thought it would be a good time to write an article about what really pumps me about workouts and exercise in general. The real reasons that push me to workout when there is always a good excuse to hit Pinterest or just watch a little TV.
Why I love to Workout
1. First on my list has to be looking good. This past weekend I was at the West Edmonton mall Waterpark and of course beach season is always coming. It will seem a little ego driven but as a 48 year old guy I like to make sure that I look good with my shirt off. I might not look as good as Channing Tatum but I always have something to work towards.
2. Having my body and mind connected. There is no way that you can work out and not have those great neuron links between your mind and body. I know that I can try any sport and do ok because I know how my muscles and joints react to different situations.
This is awesome also when I am trying something new or am out hiking and can feel the pain in my muscles and also the next day know that I have worked hard, because I can push my body.
3. Working towards personal bests. There are not a lot of parts of your life that you can link up personal bests or be able to benchmark youself against what you have done in the past.
Heck, with running, biking or weightlifting I can compare myself with the worlds best (I don’t compare very well by the way). This means that if I have a great workout week I can be proud, if I have a bad workout I can tell.
4. Health is your own to take. I have better control of my health. I can’t help things like accidents or aging, or even any genetic shortcomings, but I can do a lot to make sure that I am healthy. I can watch my weight with eating,
I can watch my physical body with weightlifting exercises, and I can strengthen my mind by doing sports and by keeping myself in peak physical health.
5. Stress relief is important. As an IT guys and online blogger I am constantly having to handle stress of new technology, deadlines, learning.
And as a father and husband there are always the stresses of home and family that are always so tough to handle for moments or even days.
Exercise gives a great outlet to make sure that everything runs well and that our house does not have to deal with my stresses as much.
6. I can be proud of setting an example. This is something that kicked off this post. My son and daughter see that not only do I have stories of sports and health from when I was young but that I continue to work at it.
If I have a bad day or have some kind of problems or stresses at work they know that one of the ways that I counteract these things is by working out.
The kids also see these things as a priority to me and I get to explain to them why this is important. Also, the hikes that I mentioned earlier? My kids know that I can keep up with them. I never want to hold my kids back when we are out doing things together.
Doing stuff together with my wife and kids is the biggest driver in my life and brings me more happiness than anything.